Have you ever chanced upon a fleeting encounter with a Coyote? Maybe you were driving your car down the road, and there standing in your headlights is a Coyote staring at you? Have you ever had a chance encounter when you were hiking….both you and Coyote surprising each other? Coyotes often immediately run from sight, but sometimes they take a minute to look at you…and they are gone.

I have had many Maine people share these momentary experiences that left them touched in a way they could not explain.

Why are they staring? My answer is that you have had an encounter with an intelligent fellow being who took a moment to “read you.” It takes them just that moment …and they are gone.

The Stare is just a reminder to us that we share our planet with highly intelligent and intuitive beings.

We are slowly……very slowly learning about the amazing beings with whom we share our planet. In his marvelous book The Secret Life of Trees Peter Wohlleben share his deep insights and experiences with the forest. He is a scientist and a forester who has spent much time in the forest. And he comes out of that forest speaking not only of factual ideas but most importantly of respect and awe and one of kindred spirit. When we see all of life as he has seen the trees, we begin to act very differently toward other life.

His last words in his book read: “Only people who understand trees are capable of protecting them.”

This little girl’s name is Willow, and you see her right after she had the opportunity to enjoy our Coyote and the Boy Ben puppet show. The story of a mother Coyote, her pup and the boy Ben is accompanied by the magical, original music of Maine musician, Elizabeth Starr. and the characters created by Maine artists Melissa Glendinning.

Willow is embracing the marionette of the mother Coyote [note the strings holding her up], but she knows she is not embracing a real Coyote. What she is embracing~ is her new found connection with a wild being.

I think Loren Eisely in his book The Immense Journey expresses fully what this child is experiencing:
“It finally comes to me that this is the most enormous extension of vision of which life is capable ~ the projection of self into other lives. It is far more than any spatial adventure, the supreme epitome of reaching out.”

BRAIDING SWEETGRASS ~ What does this marvelous book have to do with Coyote?
EVERYTHING!Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Native American. She is a scientist ~ a botanist. And in this deeply moving book she takes us to a place of belonging … a belonging to the rest of creation. And that belonging takes us to a place of deep respect for all of creation… and a reciprocal responsibility to all of creation. This belonging, this respect guides our perspectives and our behaviors.

She speaks of species loneliness …. “this state of isolation and disconnection, stemmed from estrangement from the rest of creation, from the loss of relationship.” In our society we suffer deeply from species loneliness ….and we don’t even understand this within us.

Coyote ~ Our Native Wild Dog is the litmus stick …..how we treat them, how we relate to them, is a guide to let us understand our disconnection and estrangement from the wondrous life on our planet.

Coyote will also let us know when we have shed that loneliness….for there are those who already have.

“Encounter”…. what is it? Well, it is often defined as an “unexpected meeting.” Because people in our culture have little knowledge and experience with Coyotes [or other wildlife for that matter] persons who do unexpectedly meet coyotes most often do not understand a Coyote’s natural behavior, and most often their perspective is the result of fear.

That person misses an opportunity to fully experience the nature of this wild being…and be enriched and delighted by it.